So what you are telling me is that with no status I'll walk up and get upgraded to First Suite on a $700 fare to HKG. Good deal. Unfortunately, it just is not going to happen 99 out of 100 times...so the suggestion is of little help to anyone. Could this be yet another post aimed at bringing CO down instead of trying to actally help the person asking the question?

Look...CO sucks. But so does everybody else...including United. I would take CO coach over UA coach anyday to HKG thanks to the personalized IFE on CAL. That means a lot to me on long flights. I would take UA if I had a strong chance to be upgraded on the cheap (assuming my company would not pay for CO Biz, which has wider seats than UA's FIRST).

I guess the overall point here is that it is a given that all of these airlines are not very good. However, they do have strong points and weak points. Choose the airline that has strong points that line up with your travel needs and weak points that are mitigated by your flying patterns.